You & Your Money

Most independent business owners are challenged by having to play multiple roles with limited time. They put on – and take off – many management hats, often wearing them simultaneously. But the one that can never be shed is that of Financial Manager and Planner. With the responsibility of managing your company’s finances comes the requirement to understand them.

When viewed together, the balance sheet and income statement represent a complete and, hopefully, accurate financial picture of the company. Unfortunately, some businesses produce two or three sets of financial statements – one for the IRS, one for the banker, and one for themselves. Whatever the reasoning, it is important to remember that the worst possible person to kid is yourself. Every business owner needs clear, concise, decision-relevant information.

What's the key to having a successful and long-standing business? Does it involve having a revolutionary product or idea? Possessing specialized expertise to offer a needed service? While those things are important, the most critical factor that contributes to business success is how well you manage your cash flow.

Yes, cash flow really is king. You can have the most innovative product on the market or be the most experienced service provider in your area, but if you can't manage the money that flows in and out of your business, your business won't be successful — or be around for long.

Dependent as we are on computers and mobile devices, it’s no surprise that cyber criminals are getting craftier developing new scams aimed at getting more people to give them more of their money. The following are important trends to be aware of to keep fraudsters from separating you and your money.

Ever wonder how you can keep better track of your spending? Save money more easily? Bank more efficiently? Eliminate late-fee charges on your bills? Even help protect yourself from fraud? The solution for much of these is already right in your hands — Online and Mobile Banking.

These services give you the power to connect with your money anytime, anywhere, and offer tools and features to help you control your money more easily than ever before. You can:

What happens in Los Angeles often impacts surrounding communities. Specifically, the earthquake safety laws signed in October 2015 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti are considered to be the toughest in the nation. It requires that the owners of an estimated 15,000 buildings most at risk of collapse during a major quake make the structures stronger.

The affected properties include non-ductile concrete buildings (not including detached single-family homes or duplexes built before 1977) and wood-frame apartment complexes built on top of carports. Property owners will have seven years to fix wood apartments and 25 years to fix concrete buildings under the new ordinance.

Last March, Mission Valley Bank launched CardValet®, a mobile card management application that helps reduce account fraud by allowing cardholders to monitor accounts with their smartphone and control how, when and where their debit card is used.

CardValet was developed in partnership with Fiserv and is available in the Apple® App Store or Google® Play. Once CardValet is set up, cardholders have the ability to “turn off” their card when not in use, establish transaction spending limits and decline a transaction when the amount exceeds a predefined threshold.

Trust can be an overused word in the business world but a necessary concept. Through what seems like an endless stream of advertising messages, we are asked to trust products and brands. Politicians ask for our vote of confidence at the polling place. It can be both emotional and logical. Emotionally, vulnerabilities are exposed with the belief people will not take advantage of that openness. Logically, we assess the probabilities of gain and loss, calculate expected utility based on hard performance data, and conclude that the person or entity in question will behave in a predictable manner. In practice, trust is often what matters most. It is the fabric that binds employees to employers, customers to companies, and companies to their suppliers and partners.

Mission Valley Bank is excited to introduce CardValet®, a mobile card management application that helps reduce account fraud by allowing cardholders to monitor accounts with their smartphone and control how, when and where their debit card is used.

CardValet was developed in partnership with Fiserv and is available in the Apple® App Store or Google® Play. Once CardValet is set up, cardholders have the ability to “turn off” their card when not in use, establish transaction spending limits and decline a transaction when the amount exceeds a predefined threshold.

What keeps business owners awake at night? According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses’ (NFIB) “Small Business Problems & Priorities Report,” five of the Top 10 issues directly relate to taxes. To give context, concerns regarding cash flow ranked a lowly 25 on the list, with business financing trailing at 69 and 70. The entire report can be viewed online at www.NFIB.